March 10, 1986 (1986-03-10) – December 16, 2023 (2023-12-16)
Related
ShoBox: The New Generation
Showtime Championship Boxing is a television boxing program that aired on Showtime. Debuting in March 1986, it was broadcast live on the first Saturday of every month. Showtime Championship Boxing, which was very similar to HBO World Championship Boxing, featured Mauro Ranallo on play-by-play, Al Bernstein as the color analyst, Jimmy Lennon (Sr. and Jr.) as ring announcers, and Jim Gray as reporter.
A sister program, ShoBox: The New Generation, has occasionally aired on Friday nights, featuring fights between boxing prospects. Showtime has also occasionally aired limited cards on the CBS broadcast network since 2012, with the telecasts billed as a special edition of Showtime Championship Boxing rather than being billed as a CBS Sports broadcast.
With the announcement in October 2023 that Showtime Sports will be closing at the end of year, any future sports programming on the network will be branded under the CBS Sports branding.[1]
"Marvelous" Marvin Hagler defeated John "The Beast" Mugabi in an 11th-round knockout on the debut broadcast of Showtime Championship Boxing on March 10, 1986. On the same undercard, Gaby Canizales defeated Richie Sandoval (who subsequently almost died from the blows received in this bout) and Thomas Hearns defeated James Shuler, who died a week after this bout in a motorcycle accident.
Mike Tyson headlined multiple pay-per-view heavyweight fights, including:
Nigel Benn defended his WBC Super-Middleweight title against Gerald McClellan in a dramatic fight that almost turned tragic by winning on a tenth-round technical knockout at London, England, on February 25, 1995. McClellan subsequently spent two months in a coma due to a massive brain injury and suffered blindness, impaired hearing, and inability to walk. Benn himself suffered from a broken nose and jaw, urinating blood and a shadow of a brain injury.[2]
Diego Corrales defeated José Luis Castillo for the WBC lightweight title in a 10th-round TKO on May 7, 2005. The fight is almost universally regarded as the best fight of 2005.
A ShoBox match between Sechew Powell and Cornelius Bundrage on May 6, 2005, featured an extremely rare double knockdown. Both threw simultaneous rights to the chin, although the referee didn't score any single knockdowns, possibly due to the shock of the occurrence.
The four fight series of Israel Vázquez and Rafael Márquez. Marquez won the first fight on March 3, 2007, after Vazquez couldn't continue after round 7. Vázquez would knock out Marquez in the sixth round of their second fight on August 4, 2007. This fight won Fight of the Year and Round of the Year (Round 3) honors for 2007 by The Ring. Their 3rd fight was considered to be the most exciting, which took place on March 1, 2008. Vazquez won the fight by split decision, after an incredible twelfth-round which saw Vázquez knock Márquez into the ropes, which prevented Marquez from hitting the canvas, resulting in a critical knockdown in the closing seconds of the fight. This fight was recognized as Fight of the Year for 2008 by Ring magazine as well. Marquez won their fourth fight by a third-round technical knockout.
On June 25, 2016, CBS broadcast a WBC welterweight championship fight between Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman, marking the first boxing event broadcast on CBS in primetime since 1978. The telecast, although part of the Premier Boxing Champions arrangement, was produced by Showtime and billed as Showtime Championship Boxing on CBS presented by Premier Boxing Champions.[6][7] Thurman retained the WBC title via a unanimous decision.[8]
On March 4, 2017, CBS aired Thurman's WBA/WBC welterweight unification bout against Danny García. Once again, the fight was broadcast in primetime as a Showtime presentation of Premier Boxing Champions. The fight, which Thurman won in a split decision, received a 2.2 Nielsen rating (a 22% gain over Thurman vs. Porter).[9][10][11][12]
On November 6, 2021, Canelo Álvarez vs. Caleb Plant fight held in Las Vegas, when Canelo becomes the first-ever undisputed world super-middleweight champion.